Good Things

At this year’s Rolling Stone Live Super Bowl party, producer Toast created a "trashed hotel room" where guests could take photos and pretend to live the rock star life. The event took place at the Bud Light Hotel, a Wyndham property in New Orleans rebranded for the weekend.

At last year’s Sundance Film Festival, Abel McCallister Designs created a movie-themed space for Chase Sapphire. Interactive photo booth installations allowed visitors to enter the worlds of well-known films that originally premiered at the festival, including Dogtown and Z-Boys. The photo station had guests stand on a skateboard set next to a sideways backdrop of Santa Monica beach; the printed photographs were then turned horizontally to make it look like guests were captured mid-trick on a skateboard ramp.

For this year's iteration of the Chase Sapphire activation at Sundance, Abel McCallister Designs created several new photo booth installations based on movies, including Hairspray, Hoosiers, and Little Shop of Horrors (pictured).

At the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center’s gala in Miami, guests could pose for photos behind an oversize golden picture frame. Shiraz Events provided decor for the event, which drew 600 guests to the JW Marriott Marquis Miami and Hotel Beaux Arts in December.

At the Lipton Uplift Lounge at the Sundance Film Festival in January, guests including Lil Jon could pose for photos while sitting in a real ski-lift chair set against a snowy, branded backdrop.

Groupon hosted its Camp Groupon event last July at the Swissôtel Chicago. Kehoe Designs spruced up the hotel with thematic decor for the weekend, including a photo station area with a woodsy backdrop that included life preservers, boat paddles, and bundled logs.

To celebrate the release of Girls season one on Blu-ray—and to hype the second season—HBO hosted a cocktail party at Toronto's House of Moments in December. Guests were encouraged to snap Instagram photos in front of a backdrop based on Central Park in New York City, where Girls is set. The Big Apple-inspired area had lampposts, trees, shrubs, and backdrops decked with New York City architecture.

David Copperfield helped produce the L.A.'s Promise "A Night of Magic" gala in October. The producers at Chad Hudson Events worked with Copperfield's team to set up a photo booth that made it look as though guests were floating in midair in front of the famous magician. In reality, the station had a potted plant placed sideways against a wall, while attendees stood on a metal stand that was hidden from the camera by clothing and feet.

To introduce its new line of men's grooming products and promote its partnership with Space Expedition Corporation to send 22 fans on a flight beyond Earth's atmosphere, Axe built its own space academy in January. The brand turned the Cullman Hall of the Universe at the American Museum of Natural History into its secret space headquarters for the launch event, placing a moon-landing-inspired photo op area up front.

Last fall’s New Yorkers for Children gala had a "light the way" theme, inspired by the nonprofit's mission to improve the lives of young people. David Stark handled the decor, embellishing a photo backdrop of a forest scene with white birch trees, lush greenery, and a path lit by lanterns.

In November, NBC once again hosted Democracy Plaza at Rockefeller Center in New York, a free interactive, election-focused exhibit and promotion for the public that also served as its election-night coverage hub. Inside the Rockefeller Plaza concourse, people lined up to have their photos taken in side-by-side replicas of the White House press room and the Oval Office.

For Dos Equis's "Most Interesting Masquerade," held in Chelsea's historic Masonic Hall in New York and produced by Mirrorball, body painter Craig Tracy drew half a lion's face on the sides of two models. When the models sat back-to-back inside a gold picture frame, the full face of the lion was visible and formed the backdrop of a photo op.

For last year’s American Heart Association gala in Seattle, event designer Matthew Parker created a photo backdrop for the Kentucky Derby-themed event that included a life-size papier-mâché horse made from more than 5,000 individually placed construction-paper strips.

To promote its new line of Outdoor Life apparel, Sears built a campsite-themed area in New York’s Times Square last October. Guests could pose in a photo op area that was set up to look like a real campsite, with a tent, faux grass, a fire pit, and outdoorsy props.

Transitions Optical, working with chef Robert Irvine, had a two-story activation at the recent South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s Grand Tasting Village. Inside the structure, guests posed at a Mad Hatter's tea-party-themed dining set with props, including cutouts of Irvine’s face.

For a recent wedding in New York, Oh Snap Smile constructed a unique photo booth environment: Guests were shot from above while lounging in a bed strewn with custom pillows to use as props.

For e-commerce company Vente-Privee USA's one-year anniversary party held last November in New York, StudioBooth set up a custom photo set with fall leaves and vintage props, designed to mimic the company’s fall campaign. The images were turned into animated GIFs that were emailed to guests.

Tired of the all-white leather look? Leslee Bell of Decor & More is creating lounge areas with rental furniture that incorporates textured fabrics such as suede, chenille, herringbone, and wide whale corduroy, along with throw pillows featuring stripes, abstract patterns, and animal prints.

Vintage China Hire offers an eclectic mix of vintage and antique tableware for events of as many as 120 people. Vintage China Hire has also partnered with Loic Gourmet to offer catered afternoon tea packages for a minimum of 12 people.

Contemporary Furniture Rentals has a variety of items ideal for pulling off a rustic look, including barrel stave chandeliers, coffee and cocktail tables made from reclaimed wood, and its new Farmhouse dining chairs (pictured).

In an effort to prevent large staging and exhibit structures from ending up in landfills, Arlington, Virginia-based design firm Beth Singer Design has developed modular staging systems that can be reused, reconfigured, and resized. The portable, lightweight frames are easily customized with a variety of wrinkle-free fabric skins.

Event planning company Well Rehearsed offers its ready-made Streets of San Francisco centerpiece collection for rent or purchase. The 10 reusable designs in the line incorporate some of San Francisco’s most iconic landmarks, imagery, and neighborhoods.

Blueprint Studios rents a variety of modern display furnishings engineered to contain the latest technology, including media towers, coffee tables, and bars fit with LCD displays. The company’s Museo collection also includes its new iPad station that can be branded and customized.

Rental company Archive Rentals has a showroom in San Clemente offering vintage items, handmade furnishings, and antiques for events. The company’s vintage Western- and camp-themed rentals (think reclaimed wood tables, picnic linens, horse tack, canoes, and retro Airstream trailers) are ideal for summer events.

Searching for modern-looking, green-minded centerpieces? Britton Neubacher-Caligure of Tend Living often eschews florals in favor of succulents, air plants, and cacti, to create organic-looking arrangements. Neubacher-Caligure also offers how-to workshops.

Scottsdale-based company BizBox offers solar-powered, portable pop-up buildings that can be used as mobile showrooms, food shops, retail stores, or tradeshow display centers. The sleek units can be purchased or leased, and feature glass walls, display panels, and a wraparound deck, all of which can be set up in about 20 minutes. The newest model features full-glass siding.

The new SculptLamps from Scottsdale-based SculptWare can work as centerpieces or cocktail-table accents. Available to rent in two sizes—14 inch, $45, or 30 inch, $65—the lamps include remote-controlled LEDs that can glow in 13 colors.

Available to rent for events in Arizona starting at $9,000, Just Light That offers pressure-sensitive interactive LED-lit floors in sizes up to 24 by 32 feet that can be synced to music. The floors can also display logos, animated images, scrolling text, or static branding.

Lititz, Pennsylvania-based production and scenic goods company Atomic Design has introduced its modular Buule and Laser panels. The 5-foot-wide fabric panels have zippers so you can customize the length and width of your backdrop. For easy shipping, a 50- by 30-foot drape fits in a 24-inch cardboard box that weighs 70 pounds.

Add a rock ’n’ roll vibe with tabletops from Max King Events that are made to look like acoustic and electric guitars. The tops can be used on 30- or 42-inch stands. The handcrafted tabletops are available in 12 designs. Prices start at $85.

The Little Glass Slipper is a new floral shop in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, owned by Cary Pereyra, who creates arrangements that offer a dose of aromatherapy. Her creations can include botanicals like echinacea for a weak immune system or mood-boosting lavender for seasonal depression.

Taylor Creative Inc. is now carrying Kartell’s invisible coffee table. A match for Louis Ghost chairs, the sleek Lucite tables rent for $150 each, and there are 16 available. Also new to Taylor’s inventory: Kartell’s invisible dining tables.

The new graffiti-inspired “Tag It” line from AFR Event Furnishings includes items such as leather sofas, chairs, acrylic tables, and ottomans that guests can permanently leave their mark on with Sharpies. The furniture items, which are for sale only, can be displayed in the office post-event.

Atlas Party Rental carries a variety of new brightly colored dishes that can add a splash to tabletops. The eye-catching purple-and-turquoise Luxe charger (pictured) rents for $8.

Little World Design specializes in sculptural, botanical objects and installations. Owners Heather Pando and Manuel Acosta favor long-lasting materials, like branches, seed pods, feathers, moss, stones, linen, and even real butterfly wings.

Holo-Walls offers interactive LED liquid tabletops filled with pressure-sensitive fluids that are designed to fit on 30-inch round cocktail tables. The illuminated, chrome-edged tiles are available to rent from $100 each; matching Liquid Fusion dance-floor tiles are also available, starting at $50 per tile.

The Vintage Table Company offers vintage china, glassware, and flatware sourced from estates, thrift stores, and flea markets, for a completely mismatched tabletop look.

Town and Country Event Rentals now offers the Cielo Blanco 4- by 8-foot dining table, available with custom fabric insets.

California-based La Tavola Fine Linen Rental has opened its first Las Vegas showroom. The company offers 11 linen collections, as well as coordinating pieces, like napkins and seat cushions.

For place settings that tie into the rustic, all-natural trend, rent Swift & Company’s 500 new Capri wood chargers for $7 per piece. Crafted from reclaimed wood and made by hand in the company’s Houston workshop, the chargers’ patinas and distress marks make for a striking tabletop element.

Event rental company Suite 206’s new Savile Row collection—from $55 to $350 for individual pieces—is inspired by the London street famous for its bespoke men’s tailoring shops. The masculine-looking furniture collection includes pieces such as the Wayly chair (pictured) and the tufted Ted settee in gray, silver, and black.

New England Country Rentals is a full-service Boston-based event rental company. The inventory includes bars, lounge furniture, china, flatware, chairs, glassware, and vintage decor items, but the company specializes in rustic custom-made tables, chairs, and benches.